


The Red Dragon

by AlexandriteWard



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst and Humor, BAMF!Stiles, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Post-Season/Series 02 AU, Slow Build, Stiles has to save everyone first, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, plus he might be stuck as something without opposable thumbs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-16 03:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3471926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexandriteWard/pseuds/AlexandriteWard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The woman standing in the summoning circle appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, Claudia Stilinski."<br/>-<br/>Where sometimes stories have unhappy endings, and other times Stiles time travels to fix it. Unfortunately for Stiles, he bites off more then he can chew. After all, everyone knows not to trust a demon, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nothing Left

The woman standing in the summoning circle appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, Claudia Stilinski. She had the same amber eyes, the same chestnut curls, the same thin but ruby red lips curved into a smile that Stiles would remember until the day he died. But the person, or more likely the “thing” as they turned out to be more and more these days, was in no way his mother. He stood frozen in the clearing behind the rebuilt Hale house, looking at the creature who dared pretend to be his mother, and he was angry.

“Aww what’s the matter sweetie? Not get what you asked for?”

“What the fuck!” Stiles snarled, eyes glowing an unearthly silver in the moonless night. Not-Claudia simply smiled wider and said; “You called me here; I simply chose a form I thought you would like.” Not-Claudia spread her arms, entire body swathed in black; “Did I make a bad choice?”

Stiles’ glare intensified, “You bet you did, you have no right to look like her-“

“Yes yes, semantics,” Not - Claudia interrupted, brushing off his concerns with a wave of her hand. “Now, you can continue to waste my valuable time with your petty concerns or we can get to the heart of the matter. Why are you calling to make a pact with me, child? Surely you know my deals are, well, dangerous to say the very least? Those who deal with me rarely get happy endings.”

Stiles felt old. Far older then he should at 22, but werewolves and magic will do that to a guy. He sighed and slumped forward, the appearance of strength giving away to tiredness and pain. “ Trust me, I know. I want to make a pact with you.”

“A pact?” Not-Claudia’s mouth curved upward with mirth. “I haven’t done something like that in centuries. Tell me then, why should I make a pact with you? What reason do you have to lose everything?”

Stiles was still for only a moment before responding. “Because I have already lost everything. My family, my pack, my lover, all dead. And this book,” Stiles holds up an old worn leather bound tome, “says you can fix it, for the right price.”

Not-Claudia was still, staring intently at the book in Stiles’ hand. Her gaze flicked to his, “You must be pretty desperate to call on me, and I do hope you read the fine print.” She says it bluntly, but in the same sweet, dulcet tone of the woman whom Stiles once loved more than anyone else in the world. Stiles shoulders squared in resignation as he looked Not-Claudia, the creature that was not his mother, in the eye.

Not-Claudia’s grin widened until it was a full on smirk, teeth glittering. “I know what you want, and let me say, it is very noble.” She began to walk around the circle, her eyes trained on him like prey. “You want to save the entire Hale pack, and thus save everyone who died because that pack no longer existed. I must say, that is one tall order sweetie.”

“Don’t call me that!” Stiles snapped automatically. He stiffened, eyes widening slightly that she knew his desire before he had even voiced it. He swallowed and allowed his face to return to a blank mask.

“Can you do it? Can you give me that?”

“Sweetie,” Not-Claudia says, ignoring his annoyed squawk, “I can give you anything you desire for the right price. What matters is if you are willing to pay it.”

“What’s the price then? I’ll pay anyth-“ 

Not-Claudia lifted up a hand, stopping him. The clearing was silent for a moment as she moved to stand directly in front of him. And when she spoke, her tone was far more serious than it had been previously.

“You ask to save more lives than you know. To change the past is a difficult thing, even for me, and to change so much of it is dangerous. It can be done, and from the pain in your eyes I expect the world would be a better place for it, but there would be consequences that you would not fully understand, and I could take nothing less than all of you for it to be done. Your mind, your body, and your very soul would be mine for as long as I choose. You could be in service to me for eternity, and you will still be mine even with no memory of this life and the choice you made in it. Are you truly prepared for this?”

Stiles eyes glinted with determination. He raised his hand forward into the circle and sliced it with the knife he had used in the initial spell, blood slowly dripping onto the ground below his outstretched hand. He took a deep breath and looked Not-Claudia in the eye and then said one word; 

“Yes.”

He barely felt her hand curl into his own. The darkness that swallowed him whole was instant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There just needed to be more time-travel Sterek in the world, and this is my attempt at a contribution.


	2. What Is Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything has a beginning, even long after the story behind that beginning has vanished with time.

Stiles Stilinski began lusting after Derek Hale the moment he was pushed up against his bedroom door. With Derek’s face centimeters from his own Stiles felt the almost overwhelming desire to feel the other man’s stubble on his neck, and the press of Derek’s currently frowning lips on his own. However, the future issues with the Kamina and the Alpha pack quickly pushed the lust to the back of his mind, only to surface at three in the morning with a hard on he would guiltily take advantage of. Stiles spent the next year alternating between lust and irritation at Derek’s annoyingly grumpy attitude and subsequent inability to listen to reason, at least until the Alpha pack situation came to a head. That was when everything started to change.

It was of course, Stiles who saved them. The constant threat from the Alpha pack made Stiles desperate to find a solution to get them out of Beacon Hills, so he started researching magic in the hopes of harnessing the spark he supposedly had. Deaton happily and cryptically gave him books on the subject, and Stiles spent weeks reading and memorizing them. The day came that the Alpha pack demanded a meeting, and threatened that they would attack all of them if Derek didn’t agree. That night as Derek went to face off against Deucalion, Stiles followed.

Derek stood across from Deucalion and his pack in a forest clearing miles out in the preserve.

"I head that two of your betas have escaped from under the nose of that infamous Argent hunter, I would applaud that if they weren't going to die." Deucalion said, smiling.

Derek knew that unless he could come to a deal with Deucalion, his betas would be killed and he would be forced to join them. The only thing he had come up with (and Stiles would call him a self-sacrificing idiot for it later) was to give himself up willingly in hopes that they would spare his betas. This was a desperate attempt that Derek was fairly sure wouldn't work, but he had no other options. He was just about to open his mouth to offer it when Stiles emerged from the woods with a nervous smile on his face, heart hammering.

“Heeeeeey Derek.” Stiles said cheekily as he walked up to him. Derek snarled at Stiles for his stupidity. The Alpha pack had tensed at the intrusion but then Deucalion smiled.

“You brought a human with you to help fight your battles? And here I thought you had some sense.” Deucalion’s grin sharpened. Stiles turned to look at him and glared, ignoring his sweaty palms and how fast his heart was beating.

“I have a deal for you, if you’re interested.”

Deucalion snorted. "You, human? What would you have to offer me?"

Stiles smiled and held up one of the books he had been studying in his hands. He looked Deucalion in the eye with a confidence he didn't feel and said, "Your sight."

Deucalion stilled for a moment before snarling and saying, "What are you playing at boy? This is no game!"

"You're right, this is no game. In exchange for your pack leaving our territory and never returning, I should be able to give you back your eyesight. This is a book of healing spells, it’s pretty old, but it works." Stiles held out his arm and showed a bandage covering a small open cut, freshly made.

“Watch.” He said, grinning. He unwrapped the bandage, showed the cut, and placed a twig of lavender on top of it, and then placed his other hand over it. His hand started to glow brightly but as quickly as it appeared it vanished, and Stiles raised his hand off the cut to show perfectly healed skin.

“That little cut is nothing like my eyes, even as a were I was unable to heal them. What makes you think your magic can do it?”

Stiles’ arms spread wide as he looked Deucalion head on and asked, “What do you have to lose?”

“Besides,” Stiles added, “If I tried to pull something, neither Derek or I would leave this clearing alive, so why would I even try to trick you? I like living, thanks.” The clearing was silent as Stiles and Deucalion regarded each other.

Deucalion’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses but after a tense moment he responded. “If you fail, you and your pack will die.”

Stiles snorted. “You mean like we would have anyway? At least this gives us a chance to get out of here alive, and you to get your sight back.”

Deucalion slowly approached Stiles, fangs and claws visible. Stiles stiffened his spine and quickly got to work creating a large circle of mountain ash around both himself and Deucalion.

“You need to lay down for this to work.” Deucalion was hesitant for a moment, but hearing no lie in Stiles’ heartbeat, complied.

Stiles got down on his knees near Deucalion's head, placing the book next to him. He gently lifted off Deucalion's glasses and set them aside, looking at eyes that had been destroyed with acid some years prior.

"Hold still." Stiles then put lavender twigs on top of both Deucalion’s closed eyes. He softly placed his own hand on top of the twigs after slicing it open with a knife. He then began chanting Latin from the book sitting off to the side, silently hoping he got all the Latin correct. Light began to glow under his hand, brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding in its intensity. Then suddenly, it was over.

Stiles felt woozy and shakily lifted his hand from Deucalion's eyes as Deucalion carefully opened them and wiped away what was left of the lavender twigs and blood. He looked around the clearing and then finally, smiled; a large full teeth smile with fangs glittering that stayed on his face as he stood.

Styles’ face was gray, his body shaking and unable to stand as Deucalion leaned down next to Stiles ear and said, "Let it not be said that I am not a wolf of my word."

He picked up his glasses and walked back toward his pack and then said simply, "We are leaving." He then turned around and walked out of the clearing with his pack behind him leaving both Stiles and Derek dumbfounded in his wake.

“It worked!” Stiles said in disbelief. “Holy shit it actually worked! I’m magic!”

Stiles looked at Derek and started laughing maniacally from exhaustion and disbelief. Derek approached and helped him stand, Stiles ended up leaning heavily against him. He looked up into Derek's eyes and grinned. Then he let his body give out against Derek’s chest, so that Derek was the only thing holding him up.

They stood silently for a moment before Derek said quietly, "Thank you." in the most sincere tone Stiles had ever heard.

Stiles laughed weakly. "Yeah well I can't let you guys get your furry asses taken out by assholes like that, honestly."

Derek looked down at him and Stiles could swear he was smiling, but Stiles attributed what he saw as leftover adrenaline and exhaustion, because there was no way Derek Hale was really smiling at him. Then Stiles, being Stiles, promptly fainted; and after this was when something that might have been called friendship started between the two.

- 

The past months with the Kamina, the Alpha's, and Argent solidified one thing for Derek. He was not meant to be an Alpha, and if he was going to be one, he needed help. This was not news to anyone, it was however surprising when he went to Stiles for help. He wanted to be a better Alpha, and he grudgingly knew that Stiles would be willing to help, if only to save his friends hides. So Derek was going to ask him, and would just have to suffer through Stiles' mouth to do it. Derek almost understood why Stiles liked to goad him, and while he would never admit this to Stiles, he enjoyed having someone who would challenge him. He was really not relishing the conversation he was going to have to have to get the help he needed, however.

"You want my what?"

"Your. Help." Derek said again, clenching his teeth.

"See, that's what I thought you said, but I just needed to hear it again." Stiles flopped down onto his bed. "Why in the world are you coming to me for this? I thought you had a handle on it, oh great alpha." His voice dripping with sarcasm.

Derek growled. "I wouldn't be coming to you if I didn't need it. Now, are you willing to help me or not?"

Stiles looked at him for a long moment and finally said, "Honestly if I didn't, then I would feel guilty when you all got yourselves killed, and that is not something I want on my conscience. So fine, I'll help you. My first suggestion? Is for you to upgrade from that ratty apartment you live in. You were the one who said pack lives together, right?”

And that was how Derek ended up rebuilding the Hale house.

Rebuilding the house took almost a year, and after Derek hired someone to put up the basics (the shell, roof, plumbing, and electricity) he decided to do the dry walling and floors himself. The dry walling and floors became a pack activity. The entire pack plus Stiles found themselves spending their time after school and the weekends helping Derek put up dry wall and install floors and cabinets. Everyone was tense at first but the after-school activity helped solidify the pack, and Stiles even encouraged it, for which Derek was secretly grateful. Well Stiles was not a wolf, his help with the Alpha's, and the time that he was spending with the pack on the house made him part of the pack even if Derek didn't openly acknowledge it.

A lot of the time during the rebuilding of the house Stiles and Derek ended up spending time with just each other. As Stiles looks back on it, this was probably where it started. Derek and Stiles slowly grew closer through drywall and paint and picking out furniture at IKEA. And one evening after pack movie night had ended and everyone else had left, Stiles had turned around from the refrigerator to only be plastered against it while Derek kissed him. They kind of just fell into place after that. For a while it was perfect, but in their lives, perfect never lasted.

They had three good years. Three good years with minor problems that they managed to solve without dying (mostly), and Stiles learning magic to become the official pack emissary. They were happy and finally together like a proper pack. Then Peter came back, and everything went to hell.

Stiles never really knew what happened to Peter when he was off being dead, but he wasn't the same brand of crazy he had been when he first came back; he was much, much worse, and much more dangerous. Peter had made a pact with a demon and it had given him strength Derek and Stiles couldn't match, even with Stiles' magic. In just three months Peter had hunted down the entire pack and his father and killed them, no matter what Stiles tried to do to stop it. Seeing the light fade from Derek's eyes was like ripping out his soul. Derek had been last after the rest of the pack had been killed. Stiles suspected that Peter had wanted them both to die together in some twisted tragic love story. Stiles and Derek, in one last desperate attempt to stop Peter from ravaging the town, managed to kill him. The cost had been Derek's life. With nothing left, this led Stiles on a frantic search for a way, anyway, to save them. Even if he had to die to do it. That was how he ended up on the night of the new moon in a circle of mountain ash and salt, with a dagger soaked in rose oil, a chant on his lips, and an old leather bound tome at his feet.

- 

Really, she shouldn't have interfered. She should have let him call the demon and make the deal and gone on her merry way. She really should have. But she had a soft heart, and the kid had obviously suffered. So she intervened, and she hadn't done that in a long time. But that didn't really matter now. The pact was made, the deal done. So what if the deal wasn’t exactly with whom he thought it was. At least now she wasn't going to be bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much needed back story chapter, complete with questionable magic. It's the next chapter where the ball really gets rolling. I just need to figure out exactly where it's rolling too.


	3. The Start

Peter Hale was having a bad day. First, he had gotten into a fight with his beloved and heavily pregnant wife, then said wife sent him out to get pickles at 10:30pm at night because of her cravings, and now he was pretty sure he'd just run over a fox with his truck. Today was just not his day. He could take the injured fox to Deaton he supposed, but Deaton most likely wouldn't appreciate the late night wake up call. He wasn't cruel enough to leave the fox there either, no matter what he might have wanted others to think. He sighed loudly and walked over to the limp body of the fox with an old beach towel from the back of his truck. He just wanted to go home, give Carly her pickles, and go to bed, and it looked like the fox was coming with.

-

Talia Hale was not having a good day. She had gotten in a fight with her eldest daughter, and lately her son had become more distant than ever, and she didn't know why. It was rare when an Alpha didn't know her betas problems, but every time she tried to talk to Derek (like today) he would shut down. She and her husband Kevin were close to forcing the truth out of him, regardless of his teenage desire for privacy. And now Peter apparently hit some poor fox and the thing was now in her guest bedroom. While the fox wasn't a threat, as an alpha she was territorial, and she didn't like having something she wasn't familiar with in her den. But Peter had injured the fox, and she knew that he would take the animal to Deaton’s in the morning and after that it would be off their hands, so she didn't let it bother her too much.

-

Stiles' head hurt. Not the kind of headache that comes from going out drinking too much with the pack and making a fool of himself, but more like the various times he'd been hit over the head by something. It was somewhat depressing that he could distinguish between the two. He was just grateful he didn't wake up tied to a chair. He took a moment to listen to the world around him and not open his eyes. For a moment he thought he was home; that Erica would be in the kitchen bickering with Derek about the coffee while Boyd watched silently and Isaac tried to ignore them. But then he remembered they were gone, and he couldn't stop the riptide of grief. He suddenly felt overwhelmed. They were dead and he was alone and God it hurt. He had been too concerned with trying to find a way to fix it, or trying to escape Peter, to even have time to grieve. He curled in on himself, his leg throbbed and his entire body protesting any movement. He laid there for a while with his grief, but then slowly began remembering the last thing that happened to him. He remembered the demon with his mother’s face and the deal he made, and he opened his eyes, curious as to what predicament he might be in now. What he saw made his eyes widen in disbelief and he yelped in surprise.

Derek had been tasked with watching over the fox throughout the night in case it took a turn for the worse. It was now early morning, and Derek had been sitting next to the cardboard box that housed the fox reading when he heard the sounds of the fox waking up. There was some quiet shifting for a while, and then a very loud bark of sorts came from inside the box. Derek put down his book and looked inside, ready in case the fox decided to make a very ill advised escape.

Stiles found himself looking into a pair of bright blue green eyes. He also found himself very, very small. He looked back down at where his hands should be and where he had little black paws instead. He almost yelped again. Was he dreaming? He had to be dreaming. There was no way this was real. There was absolutely no way he was a freaking fox.

“Hey there little guy,” Derek said softly. “You need to relax and calm down; you don’t want to aggravate that leg any more than it already is.”

Stiles blinked. His leg? What was wrong with his leg? He looked down and saw that his leg was crudely wrapped and splinted. That explained why it was throbbing. He shifted it a bit and whined when it pulled the injury.

“Hey now, don’t do that,” Derek said, reaching his hand down without thought and placing it on the foxes side, stopping him from moving. The fox squeaked.

Derek’s eyes widened but his hand didn't move. “Just go ahead and put your hand on a wild animal. Genius idea Derek.” He grumbled to himself. He still didn't move his hand though; too concerned that the fox may hurt itself rather than the chance it might bite him.

Stiles’ head perked up. 'Derek?' Stiles did his best to focus on the face in front of him, dimly lit by early morning light. His eyes widened. It couldn't be, but it was. It was a young Derek; the one he had seen in the handful of family photos Derek still had from before the fire. He was actually in the past, and Derek’s hand was on his side, and he was an honest to god fox. How is this his life?

Derek looked at the fox which had frozen when he placed his hand on it. After a few moments the fox appeared to relax, its rapid heartbeat slowing. Then, going on the instinct to help comfort the fox so it wouldn't injure itself, he started to very gently stroke its fur. The fox relaxed even further under the petting, and as he watched, the fox lifted its head and stuck out its tongue, licking his hand. The fox then settled its head down on its paws and closed its eyes. Derek felt a small smile tugging at his lips.

Stiles was tired. So very very tired. He hadn't slept much since Peter returned, and now everything was hurting and he was in the past and he was with Derek and he just needed sleep. So he moved his head and licked Derek, just to assure himself he was real, and then put his head down to rest. He would deal with all of this when he had the energy for it. For now, he allowed the pull of sleep to sweep him under again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fox!Stiles just happened and I'm not even sure how.


	4. Time Passing

The next time Stiles woke up; it was to some very unpleasant poking. He was lying on something cold and hard and the bright light above him was blinding. Stiles whimpered as his leg was shifted.

“It’s all right, just relax while I properly splint your leg.” Stiles blinked his eyes open. He knew that voice. He stilled when a face moved into his vision. It was Deaton. Stiles’s stiffened further. Did Deaton know he wasn’t a normal fox? He tried to relax, hoping that doing so would make Deaton hurry up and hopefully not get suspicious over him.

“There now, that’s better. I’ll have you fixed up in a moment. Derek was worried about you; he’s been in the waiting room since he brought you in. I’m sure he will be happy to see you awake and calm.”

Stiles didn’t remember much of what happened that ended up with him having a broken leg, just darkness, bright lights and then pain, but he was fairly sure Derek hadn’t been involved with his injury. Stiles wondered just why he was sticking around. He was just a fox after all, there wasn’t any reason for Derek not to drop him off and leave. Stiles knew that Deaton would fix up wild animals for free and then take them to a sanctuary when they were healed enough.

“There, all finished. Thank you for being a good patient.” The bright light was turned off and Stiles looked up into the face of the man who was once his mentor.

Deaton smiled at him and then called, “Derek, I’ve finished. You can come in now.” Stiles heard the door opening and turned to watch as Derek walked through it and came over to him.

“Hey there.” Derek said softly, bending down to look the fox in the face. “Hopefully that feels better.”

“He’s going to need about a month to recover; it was a bad fracture but thankfully not a break. It was good that someone splinted it overnight or the fox could have done himself worse injury.”

“Yeah I thought I should just in case.” Derek murmured. Derek had splinted his leg and brought him to Deaton’s. Stiles knew that Derek had a heart under all his grumpiness, but the thought of teen Derek taking care of a fox was adorable.

“Well, I’m going to need to put him in a cage for now and will take him to the sanctuary tomorrow, unless of course you would like to take care of him?”

Derek jerked up to look Deaton in the eye. “I can take care of him?”

“If you would like, I’ll give you some directions to follow and some kibble to feed him with.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I don’t want to mess with him and accidentally make him a house pet.”

Deaton looked over to Stiles and met his eyes as he said, “Oh, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

Stiles spend the car ride back to the Hale house wondering if Deaton knew he wasn’t just a normal fox or not.

-

To say Talia Hale was surprised when Derek brought the fox back from Deaton’s wouldn’t be entirely correct, but she had hoped. When Derek had volunteered to take the fox to Deaton’s in place of Peter, she had agreed only in the hopes of getting Derek out of the house for a little while. He had become increasingly more withdrawn, doing nothing with friends outside of school and basketball and spending his remaining time either in his room or wandering the preserve alone. She also knew he had a fondness for animals from the few times in her life she had come home to Derek nursing an injured animal back to health. So when he had asked to take the fox, she had said yes, but she had also seen that he had managed to get fairly attached to the little thing in a very short amount of time. Her son had such a big heart. She sighed.

“So why did you bring the fox back, Derek?”

Derek fidgeted. “Deaton said he needs about a month to heal, and said I could take him home if I cared for him. He gave me instructions and food. Plus the fox would have just been stuck in a cage until he healed and I thought here might be better for hm.”

Talia eyed her son while he held a large open air cage containing the fox, which was lying down and looking up at her. Stiles was trying hard to give her the puppy dog face but on a fox he wasn’t sure if it would get through as big eyed and innocent. Finally Talia looked back to Derek’s eyes.

“You are going to be one hundred percent responsible for his care and you will give him to Deaton when the month is up to release him in the wild. Is that understood?”

Derek nodded his head vigorously. “Yes mom, thank you.” He then quickly headed upstairs to his room. Derek opened his door and walked in, setting the cage and bags on the bed. He pulled two bowls out, going to the bathroom to fill one with water and filling the other with a type of fox edible kibble.

“Hopefully that isn’t too bad, sorry I don’t have any rodents to give you.” Derek said softly as he set the bowls in the cage. The fox stood up and, keeping the injured front leg from touching the ground, leaned over the bowl and began to eat.

‘It actually didn’t taste too bad.’ Stiles thought, but he guessed that was probably the fox in him talking.

The first 2 weeks passed by slowly. Stiles spent almost the entire time in the cage, but Derek would take him with him whenever he could except for school. Stiles would find himself outside on the porch, in the living room, the family library, and Derek’s bedroom. Most of his time was spent with Derek. He would occasionally see Talia and her husband (who he learned was named Kevin) in passing, but they mainly kept away. Laura would come take a look at him every once and a while, but she seemed too busy with her social life to bother spending much time with the fox. He would see Cora more often as she seemed to have free time. She would come up to the cage and say hello, and would occasionally talk to him about Derek.

“He really seems attached to you. It’s weird.” Stiles understood what she meant.

Derek would carry him out onto the preserve in a smaller cage, and sometimes Derek would walk for hours. Derek also spent a lot of time just talking to Stiles. Stiles found this Derek to both in some ways be like his Derek, and in other ways be completely different. In the span of two weeks Stiles learned a lot about Derek’s life and his feelings for school and family, and the most overwhelming thing was that he seemed lonely. It didn’t seem like he spent a lot of time with his family. They were all wrapped up in their own lives, and that made Derek unhappy. Stiles did his best to be a friend, even if he was a four legged one.

Stiles also used this time to come to terms with three things. One; his stupid and grief stricken self had managed to conjure a demon, and said demon had actually sent him back in time. Two; he was somehow stuck as a fox and had no access to his magic which really pissed him off and three; he absolutely could not fuck this up. He spent his time planning and plotting various scenarios on how to save the family, but because he didn't know exactly when Kate would attack, and that he was stuck as a small furry animal with a broken freakin' leg, he couldn't even protect them. Stiles knew that if he ran into that demon again, he was seriously going to give it a piece of his mind.

-

The first time Stiles saw teenage Derek completely naked he almost fainted. He had some understanding that people who owned pets usually didn’t care if they were naked around them, and now he was getting that firsthand. Seeing Derek naked was the best kind of torture. Stiles was just grateful Derek didn’t ever jerk off in his presence, or he didn’t think he would survive the experience. Seeing Derek shift for the first time in his fox presence didn't have anything on seeing the boy naked.

-

Other than the occasional moments of naked that Stiles got to enjoy, he didn’t have much for entertainment. It was driving Stiles up a wall. Trapping someone with ADD in a cage was possibly the most evil thing you could do to them, adding a leg in a cast to the mix so he couldn’t move was just an added bonus to his personal hell. After two weeks with the Hales dying of boredom, his leg pain had finally faded, and when Derek had taken Stiles in to see Deaton for a checkup, Deaton had some interesting news.

“It appears his leg is almost entirely healed.”

“What?”

“It’s a surprise I’ll admit, but the fox is young and healthy and that is most likely contributed to his speedy recovery.”

“Does that mean I can’t keep him until the month is up?”

Deaton studied Stiles for a moment. “He could still use some time to get his leg muscles back to prime condition, so I believe you can keep him for two more weeks as we had originally planned.”

Stiles let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

-

A day after his trip to Deaton, Derek came home and told him that he had met a woman named Kate. 

Stiles’ first thought at this news was, “Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the chapter showing up and then being taken down. With the craziness from the server move with AO3 yesterday I decided to take it down because it wasn't saving correctly. Apologies.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is angry, Not-Claudia loves fairytales, and in the end, Stiles may just have ended up with a good (if confusing) new bargain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have not abandoned this! But, sorry I haven't updated in a year? No excuse for it, but I honestly lost my ideas for this and only just thought of some new material. If anyone has any ideas of how they would like this story to progress, PLEASE let me know so I can bounce them around in my head and figure it out. For now though, I do have a few chapters worth of ideas.

Stiles needed a plan, and he needed one quickly. He had to get Derek away from Kate at all costs, but first things first. He was going to have to actively try and escape. Over the past few weeks he had wanted to escape, but understood that it would be easier for him to spy on the Hale family while in the cage than while in the woods, and having a constant source of good food (and not rodents, ew) as well as Derek's company made him loath to leave the cage. However, now that his leg was healed and Kate had made her move, he knew he couldn't stay there any longer.

So now it was time to enact his plan, titled code name: Save Our Uber Really Wonderful Obliviously Lovely Family, or S.O.U.R.W.O.L.F for short. Stiles knows he should not be allowed to create code names, but he really just wanted S.O.U.R.W.O.L.F as the name, and thought of what each letter stood for afterward. Not really his best idea, but can you blame a guy after he's spent a month in a cage?

Stiles' plan was simple, wait for the right opportunity to escape while Derek was feeding him. For a while he thought his superior brain may be able to allow him to open the cage on his own, but not having opposable thumbs ended up being a huge disadvantage. Stupid adorable tiny thumb-less claws. So Stiles waited, and thankfully he didn't have to wait long, as the opportunity presented itself later that same day, when Derek opened his cage to feed him dinner while they were out on the porch. He watched Derek set down the bowl, and he dug into it as quickly as possible. He wasn't going to leave without eating the food first, as he had no idea when he'd get another chance at something decent. He'd already sworn to himself that rodents were off the menu. Once he was done, Derek reached in to retrieve the bowl and as soon as Derek's hand got close enough, did the only thing he could think of, he bit him. Hard.

Derek yelped and pulled his hand out quickly, leaving the door wide open. As Derek took a moment to blink in shock at the unexpected attack, Stiles made his move and vaulted out of the cage, going for the tree line as quickly as his little legs could. Derek whined behind him but didn't follow. To be honest, Stiles was only like 70% sure that would work, and had thought Derek may give chase at least for a little while. He was both grateful and sad to be free. But now what was he going to do?

Stiles stayed near the house as night fell, and watched as eventually every light in the house was turned off and the Hales went to bed. Stiles sighed. They were so unprotected and vulnerable. How can werewolves be so stupid? He turned around and headed a little ways into the forest, hoping to find somewhere he could hide himself for the evening that was safe and comfortable. He missed his warm blankets and the security of the house. 

He was unprepared for what happened next.

"Well hello there little fox, fancy seeing you here."

Stiles barked in surprise and spun around, pressing himself against a tree and looking up in surprise (and a little fear, not that he would admit it) into the face of his mother.

Not-Claudia leaned down and smiled. "So little fox, how are you enjoying your trip into the past?"

Stiles snarled. "This isn't what I asked for!"

Not-Claudia laughed. "Not what you asked for? Oh sweetie, you didn't specify anything to me whatsoever. You didn't even bother to ask how I was going to send you back. I told you it's not an easy thing to do. Why I had to take the life of the foxes body you are currently inhabiting just to have a place for your soul. You didn't think I could bring your entire body back here did you? Oh no no no, if only it were that easy."

Stiles blinked. "You can understand me?" he barked.

"Of course!" Not-Claudia grinned with mirth. "How else am I to make sure you are getting what you want if I'm not able to do a little checking up?"

Stiles glared. "This isn't what I wanted! I need a way to save them, and now it's not possible because I'm stuck as a damn fox!" 

Not-Claudia tutted. "Now now, who said it's not possible? That isn't very optimistic of you."

"How am I supposed to be optimistic when you turned me into a damn fox!" Stiles yelled loudly. Stiles leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. "How am I ever going to save them now?"

Now it was Not-Claudia's turn to be appear annoyed. " Now that is quitter talk Gemin James Stilinski, and I did not raise y-" She quickly cut herself off and sighed, and then said. "You said you'd give up everything for this, that this was worth it to save your entire family. You sold your very soul, and now you are complaining when you get a one in seven billion chance to go back in time?"

The space between them was silent for a moment, before Not-Claudia sighed again softly and said; "All right, I'll help you a little more. But only because I am willing to bend a little to get what I want, and that soul of yours will be wonderful once it is mine, all that delicious magic . . ." 

She suddenly smiled. "I think I'll take from a classic, and be your own malevolent genie. You may call upon me three times for assistance, but only do so when you are in dire need. Don't waste my generosity." She sniffed.

"And I'll give you one more thing." She snapped her fingers and Stiles suddenly choked, instinctively bringing his paws up to his neck, where he felt a strip of thick leather suddenly cover it. 'A collar?' He thought in disbelief. 

"You're going to be my very own swan prince!" She cackled gleefully. "Convince someone to take you out to a large body of water at night. I know for a fact the Hales have their own lake a few miles from here. Go there with someone and convince them to take off the collar, then swim to the center of the lake. If you manage to do that, you'll 'transform' into your 22 year old self, sans magic. Now I say 'transform' but it's not quite like that. Unfortunately the form will only be an illusion, which means no touching! And you will only be able to transform at night, so don't try it during the day as it will not work. You must also be touching the water before the sun is over the horizon that same morning, or things may end . . prematurely for you. Do you have all that?"

Stiles stared at her, head filled with confusion. "Uhh . . ." 

Not-Claudia smiled again. "Don't worry, you'll remember. Oh, and two more things! The first is that you will not be able to tell anyone about our bargains or your time travel while in human form, I can't make it that easy for you! The second comes straight from the fairy tale, and should convince you to hurry this along. If the person you love, i.e. Derek, confesses his love for another to anyone, my extra work will break, and you will never be able to to 'transform' into a human again! You can still try to save them as a fox, but I imagine having thumbs will make this a lot easier!"

Stiles' head hurt. He was going to be able to transform into a human? But only with like, a million rules and regulations? He was so fucked.

"Now my dear," Not-Claudia clapped her hands. "Hold still, this should only take a moment. Apologies in advance for the headache you are going to wake up with."

"Wai-" Stiles wasn't able to finish the sentence before he was pulled into darkness once again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Headaches and playing "Build that Sentence!" with Peter Hale and his lovely wife.

Stiles woke up with a killer headache. It was early morning, the sun barely peeking through the trees above him as he staggered to his feet. Jesus, his head hadn't hurt this badly since his 21st birthday going out with the pack. To this day he barely remembers it, except for the drag queens. He definitely remembers the drag queens.

He blinked the sun out of his eyes and looked down, noticing little black paws where hands should be. He started and then quickly remembered just when and where he was, and his confusing encounter with his demon mother look alike. 

'Ugh, now what had she said about turning human?' He sat down to think. It was a lot, so he made a list in his head with the basics.

He could turn into a human if:  
\- He got someone to take him to a body of water, at night, and took off the collar for him. He then had to swim to the middle of the lake. He huffed. It was annoying, but doable.

\- He wouldn't have any magic, and couldn't tell anyone who he really was. That sucked, but then again would they really believe him? I mean they were werewolves but time travel isn't an easy pill to swallow even so. Stiles still had trouble believing this was real.

\- His form wouldn't be real, so no one could touch it. Well that was stupid, he'd have really liked to touch Derek.

\- He had to touch the same water before the sun rose, or . . . something . . . would happen. Whatever it would be probably wouldn't be good, so he didn't want to chance it.

\- If Derek confesses his love for someone else (Kate, a.k.a. the bitch) Stiles will be stuck as a fox for the rest of his time here. He really wanted his thumbs back so hopefully he can stop that from happening.

Lastly he remembered he could call for the demon three times when he really needed her and she would come and help him. Only . . . he didn't know her name. That wasn't going to be easy.

Stiles headache had eased up a little during the time he spent thinking, but he still wished he could curl up in bed with Derek and let the day pass by. He missed that.

He groaned and then stood up. Alright, no use moping. Time to find Derek and somehow convince him to take him to a lake. Good thing it was a Saturday.

- 

Stiles made his way back to the Hale house slowly, and was grateful the headache had mostly abated by the time he made it to the large eight bedroom home. He was not grateful however, to see Peter sitting in one of the porch chairs alone reading a book. Before he could stop himself, he squeaked in surprise. Peter looked up from his book and quirked a brow.

"Well now what have we hear? I heard you made a break for it yesterday." Peter leaned back in his chair. "Derek was very sad, almost wanted to run after you. His mother had to remind him you were a wild animal after all, and if you were strong enough to escape you were strong enough to survive in the wild. Derek is still acting like a sad sack however. Why are you back here little fox? And where did you get that collar?"

Peter leaned down and sniffed at Stiles, who quickly backed up. He didn't want Peter smelling him because he wasn't sure if he smelled like the demon he had been with earlier. Could werewolves smell demons? Stiles had no clue, but it was something to look into in the future.

Stiles didn't like Peter, in fact, a part of him hated him. However the Peter in front of him, the happily married with a child on the way, didn't deserve the hatred Stiles felt for the monster this man would some day become. He had seen Peter over the last month with his wife and saw that he was a good man and a good husband, if a little strange and creepy at times. He hated Kate all over again for turning this good man into a monster.

Stiles made a decision. He knew that in order to save them, all of them, he couldn't keep himself hidden, not entirely at any rate. This was the fate of the whole Hale family after all, trying to do everything alone would just be stupid. Sixteen year old naive him may have tried it, but twenty two year old battle scarred him knew better. First things first, he would need allies, and as long as no one put him back in a cage, he could show them he wasn't just an ordinary fox.

So, like the asshole Stiles was, he jumped up on Peter and knocked the book out of his lap. This surprised Peter, not expecting a wild animal to jump on a werewolf because usually animals avoided them like the plague (with good reason). Afterward, Stiles grabbed the book and dragged it a little ways away from Peter, who watched in surprise and interest.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked curiously. The fox looked up and yipped at him, seemingly responding to his question. The fox then used its paws to open the book to a random page. It looked at the page for a second and then carefully seemed to place its paw on one part. Peter wondered if he had hit the foxes head when he'd run it over.

The fox looked at him expectantly and yipped. "What?" Peter asked. The fox yipped again, and then carefully lifted its paw and placed it back in the same spot. Peter still wasn't getting it, so Stiles dragged the book close enough for Peter to see where he put his paw. He then yipped a few times and slapped his paw on the same spot. Peter leaned down to see if the fox was trying to kill a bug, and saw what Stiles was doing. He'd stretched out his middle claw and pulled everything else back as far as he could, almost pointing toward one word. Peter read the word aloud; "Not." Stiles quickly barked three times and then moved his paw to another spot, the same claw pointed out. Peter felt a shiver go down his back and ignored it. He read the next word; "An." The fox got even more excited, barking faster and jumping up and down. The fox then placed his paw down on the book one last time, under the word "Animal."

Peter blinked. "Not an animal?" The fox yipped once, seeming to agree with what he said. Now Peter was an intelligent werewolf, and had never heard of werefoxes in his life, but this experience was anything but normal. He decided to give it a shot.

"One bark for yes and two barks for no," Peter said. The fox immediately barked once. "Are you a fox?" Two barks. "Are you a werefox?" The fox hesitated for a minute and then barked once but quietly, as though unsure of the answer. Peter sat back and mumbled "Am I crazy?" The fox barked once. Peter glared.

"This has been surprisingly convincing, but you realize I can't just take this at face value right? I could be going crazy and none of this could be even happening." The fox slowly nodded its head and yipped once. "I'm going to bring my wife out here and see what she says, if anyone would tell me I'm crazy it's her." The fox yipped again. Peter stood up and walked inside, leaving Stiles on the porch.

Stiles flopped down on the porch once he was gone. Trying to communicate as a fox was exhausting. He was grateful these people were already supernatural, or they would have never believed this. He sat up as Peter came out of the door, his wife behind him. He caught the tale end of what he was saying; "-just humor me for a second."

"Peter." Carly said, exasperated. "What did I have to come out here for?" She blinked as she saw the fox. "Is that Derek's fox? The one you hit?"

"I told you it was an accident." Peter grumbled. "Just watch this for a moment my dear." He turned to the fox. "On bark for yes and two for no." Stiles barked once. "Are you Derek's fox?" Stiles barked once. "Are you a normal fox?" Stiles barked twice and did his best to shake his heard no. "Are you magical?" Stiles barked once. Peter turned to his wife, who was looking at Stiles with fascination.

"You or Derek didn't teach him this?" Carly questioned. 

Peter huffed. "Well I can't say for Derek but I certainly wasn't spending my time teaching a fox tricks. I doubt it though."

"You're sure?" Carly asked. 

"He can read." Peter said. 

"What?"

"He grabbed my book and put his claw on specific words, spelling 'Not an animal' to me." Peter reached for the book and set it in front of Stiles.

"Peter honey are you sure you haven't been in the sun?"

"Yes my dear I'm sure, take a look." Peter addressed the fox. "Spell out something." The fox looked down and scrunched its face, looking for all the world as though it was concentrating. It carefully lifted up its paw and flipped the page, until it seemingly found a page with the words it needed. It then very carefully set its claw under the first word in question. Carly looked down and read the word.

"I." The fox yipped once and moved his paw to another spot. "Am." The fox moved his paw again. "Hungry." The fox jumped up and down in excitement when she'd finished the sentence. Carly and Peter shared a look of confusion and bemusement.

"Well that isn't something you see every day." Carly said, equal parts surprise and interest in her eyes. Peter nodded in agreement. "So what do we do now?"

Peter looked down as the fox tugged on his trousers. The fox had put his claw on the word, "Really." and once Peter had read it out loud, moved his paw to another word. "Hungry." and then moved his claw to one last place, "Please."

Carly laughed. "We should still have some left over fox kibble." Stiles sighed. Two down, five more to go. This was going to get tedious.


End file.
